The Irish standard., 1887-06-11

needle ana thread Tor coarse sewing.
The muleteers use it to mend their
saddles and broken harness straps.
What encouragement is there to indus
try when nature furnishes in one plant
drink, food, needles and thread, and a
rope for lariats!- Charles Dudley Var
,ser, IN Harper's Magazine.
EATING ON BOARD SHIP.
How Many Provisions 1t Takes to stock
. Modern Ocean Steamer.
That ''human nature is curious
thing, and there is plenty of it, . is
probably better exemplifed on board a
great ocean steamship than in any
other place in the world. There is to
be found a motley assemblage of men,
women and children, sometimes num-
bering upwards of 1,500 souls-not
packed like behring's in barrel, mo-
tionless and compressed, but as bees
in hive, active and swarming about
every hour in the day. Their lives are
linked together and subject to one
common destiny for the time being,
and the knowledge of this fact as well
as the circumscribed nature of the I'M
mediate surroundings, promotes So
ciability and good fellowship, and in
duces passengers to take an unusual
interest in their neighbors.
The vast majority of the travelling
public accept with complacency, and
quite as matter of course, the refine
ments and conveniences to be found on
board the ocean steamers of to-day.
They fail to grasp the full extent OF
the advancement which has taken
place within the last half century, and
they are apt to overlook the intricacies
of the human mechanism which has
to be constantly but quietly kept in
motion for the attainment of order,
regularity and discipline. They pos
sess no intelligent conception of the
vastness and variety of the provision
ing necessary for the proper mainte-
nance of the crowds carried in our
modern floating hotels; nor have they
the slightest ideas Of the quantities of
fuel and ships stores generally alb
sorbed by these Unsuitable leviathans.
The Britannia, built in 1889, took
600 tons of coal leaving Liverpool on
her outward voyage. She burned
forty-four tons per day, while her
steam pressure was nine pounds and
her speed little over eight knots per
hour. Gradually and steadily the
ocean steamers increased in all these
particulars until the elimination was
reached in vessel built in 1885. She
has averaged speed of eighteen knots
in nine consecutive voyages between
Queenstown and New York, which is
equal to nearly twenty-one statute
miles per hour, or somewhat greater
than the average speed of the ordinary
train service on any railway in the
world. Her engines indicate $4,000
horsepower and are supplied with
steam from nine double-ended boilers,
each with eight furnaces. The total
consumption of coal is 300 tons per
day, or twelve tons per hour, or 466
pounds per minute; and if the whole
of the fires were raked together and
formed into one large fire there would
be forty-two tons of coal, or mass
twenty feet long, twenty feet broad
and rather more than four feet high
fercely burning. Besides the coal,
! 100 gallons of oil are used daily for
journals, bearings, etc.
Passengers inhale with the sea air
an excess of enthusiasm, and are ready
to become excited on the smallest pro-
vocation. Is it a passing vessel? Or
spouting whale? Or a towering ice
bergp It forms for the nonce an all
absorbing topic of interest and eager
speculation. But even to those who
can not be termed epicures, the chief
concern and uppermost thought of
each day is undoubtedly ''What shall
we eat and what shall we drink?"
The fresh breezes create hearty ap-
petites. and with numbers of people
the time is agreeably spent in the en-
joyment of one meal or in the anticipa-
ton of the next. Under these circum-
stances, what an important depart
ment is that under the charge Of the
chief steward!
The amount of provisions, groceries,
etc., on board at the time of sailing is
very large. For single passage to
the westward one of. the most noted
steamers, with 547 cabin passengers
and a crew of 287 persons had, when
leaving Liverpool, the following
quantities of provisions-12, 500 pounds
fresh beef, 760 pounds corned beef, s.
800 pounds mutton, $50 pounds lamb,
$50 pounds of veal, $50 pounds pork,
1000 pounds fresh fish, 600 fowls, 800
chickens, 100 ducks, so geese, 80
turkeys, 200 brace grouse, Is ton pota-
toes, 80 hampers Vegetables, 220 quarts
ice cream, 1000 quarts milk and 1850
eggs.
In groceries alone there were over
200 different articles, including for
the round voyage of twenty-five days.
$50 pounds tea, 1000 pounds coffee,
!, 900 pounds white sugar, 2, 800 pounds